HO CHI MIN CITY

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Took a Ho Chi Min City highlights tour today although the locals still call it Saigon. Located on the Saigon River it is Vietnam’s largest port and largest city. There are over eight million people and three million motor bikes in the city. Our first stop was the History Museum, which is located at the Botanical Gardens, to learn about Vietnam’s past. The museum displays artifacts from the Bronze Age to the early Communist presence in Vietnam.

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Photos

BOTANICAL GARDENS
Beautiful entry to the Botanical Gardens.

BOTANICAL GARDENS
Gardens surrounding the History Museum.

AT THE HISTORY MUSEUM
Cham sculpture

STAKES
These stakes were used in the Saigon River to stop oncoming boats.

TRISHAWS
From the museum trishaws took the visitors to the post office. It was 93 degrees; to avoid another fainting spell I took the bus.

REUNIFICATION PALACE
After the post office we stopped at the palace. Designed as the home of former president Ngo Dinh Diem, the US backed leader of Vietnam until his assassination in 1962 this building is most notable for its symbolic role in the fall of Saigon in April 1975 when its gate were breached by North Vietnamese tanks. The very tanks that crashed through the gates are enshrined in the entryway with photos and accounts of their drivers on display.

Comments

[jann]

i'd love to tour those gardens...fotos are lovely....